Jonah

I was telling Elli the story of Jonah yesteray. She was very interested and listening well, but kept saying "no mommy" throughout the story as if I were telling it wrong. Finally I got to the part where the whale spits Jonah out on the beach and Elli says, "and then Jonah go tubing?" I love it!!!!

By myself

Elli's first ride of any kind all by herself.

She didn't need help with the goats this time. She loves them.

We went to Young's last weekend for some ice cream and fun with goats. Elli ran right up to them, squatted on her knees and said, "Hi goats," in the cutest little voice. She then fed them and pet them using this adorable little voice like she was talking to a baby. Then she left her ice cream not even finished to hop on a ride. She insisted she go by herself. The lady driving the tractor took a look at her and said, "not all them are excited but I'll watch her!" I guess she doesn't know that is Elli's face excited or not:) I cried and video taped the ride along with another mom. Both our girls had a great time. Elli said, "I go bumpy, bumpy, bumpy on a ride and ring a bell."

"Where's the hiking?"

We took Elli to John Bryan for some hiking and a picnic lunch. She asked "where's the hiking?" before we got there. She must have thought she was gettting a present or something:) She took her butterfly net and we got some pretty butterflies in it. She didn't want to get too close though because she said it was "too scary."

Olympics

Elli counting to 4, preparing for her dive.

All the kids cheering because they just won the race.

Andrew showing the girls how to put a horse through the obstacles.

We had the Raymond kids, Andrew, Lily and Caroline over one morning and decided to host the olympic games. We had a running race, a horse race, the balance beam, water balloon shotput, floor exercises, diving, long jump, soccer, and the marathon. The kids had a great time and we all were worn out by the end. Baby Caroline (8months) sat and smiled us all on to victory!

Norris Lake Trip #2

Elli, "I have an idea. How about ice cream guys?"

Just like old times growing up. We played king of the float. Of course, the one big difference was the little girl in the boat saying, "Don't do that guys. Come on. Hurry up. Get in the boat. AnnaBelle is sad." Anything to get us to stop playing so loudly:)

We took a boat trip to Matt's dad's house about a 1/2 hour away from Gary's place on the lake. Elli got really tired on the way back and told me she wanted to go night night. So she asked me to wrap her in a blanket. How sweet. I actually got to hold her while she slept for 30 mintues!

Elli wanted to help daddy pack. She said everything was "really heavy" and "very hard." She managed to pack her toys, her life vest and her baby's stroller. Brent had already put in his golf clubs. So I am thankful the rest of the necessities made it in. If left up to Brent and Elli, our trip may have turned out a bit differently:)

Fountain and Timid Girl

Elli likes the fountain at The Greene, an outdoor shopping complex. However, she is a little timid at first. She likes to step back and watch the other kids for a while, laughing and squealing along with them even though she is not playing. She does get in though especially when there are friends with her.

Popsicles

Elli is really into popsicles these days. She asks for them almost as much as she asks for gum. What a cuite. Anyway, she has started to take after me in so many ways that she has to be naked to eat them so she doesn't get her clothes dirty. Wait...let me state this in another way. I do not eat popsicles naked but I don't like to get my clothes dirty:) Also, she doesn't understand the whole concept of eating the popsicle and then drinking the juice from the bag so I have to put it in a bowl. Crazy girl. She has had some serious meltdowns over that. The top picture is just for pure laughs!

Panties, Gum, and telephones

Okay, this last week has been a good one. I will get pictures up soon, but here are some cute stories.
Panties-Elli is potty trained. She started with panties on Sunday last week and hasn't looked back!
Gum- Elli now chews gum without swallowing it and even prefers gum to any other snack I can offer most times.
Telephones- While I was taking a shower today, Elli was downstairs watching Elmo. I heard the phone ring but thought they would leave a message. About 5 minutes later, Elli comes upstairs as I was getting out of the shower and says, "mommy, Aunt Heather is talking." That's right. Elli answered the phone and had a 5 minute conversation with her Aunt Heather. Heather then asked Elli to put her mommy on the phone so she came up to find me. What a big girl we have at our house now:)

New Computer

We lost the hard drive on our computer so we had to get a new one. We got a little lax about backing up files. So, if any of you have pitcures of us that you could send by e-mail from Feb-July, we would greatly appreciate it. Leah, I know you have video from Elli's birthday that I need!!!! Maybe you can make a cd for me? I would like to create a computer file of these months for easy use when I make DVDs. Thank you all.